Thursday, 21 November 2013

We'll start today with Jack Wilshere who is said to have picked up a knock on his ankle while on international duty with England.

The Daily Mail report that Roy Hodgson ignored a plea from Arsene Wenger to play the 21 year-old in just one of England's two friendlies.

And after coming on as a 64th minute substitute picked up a "hefty knock on his ankle" following a challenge from Germany substitute Sidney Sam.

Of course no one knows the state of Wilshere's injury and whether it will rule him out of this weekend's match with Southampton. It is clear that he'll need to be assessed when he returns to the training ground today.

But it's clearly an injury Wilshere, Arsenal and England could do without.

Jack's already highlighted to the media that he needs to be in his best form to win a place in England's 23-man squad for next summer's tournament.

"You have seen over the last couple of months, the talent there is, even in the Under-21s, Ravel Morrison and all these players coming through. You are never guaranteed, and cannot rest on your laurels.

"You are only as good as your last game, they say. So, when the time comes, I have to be on top form and there will be a lot of players looking to be as well.

"There are some big games coming up for the club at the moment, so I am just concentrating on that. By playing well for your club is where you are going to get into the England World Cup squad."

We've only seen Jack's best form in fleeting glimpses this season so far. What hasn't helped him is his inability so far to nail down a position in the starting 11 for himself. At the moment if everyone was fit I think Arsene Wenger would struggle to accommodate him in his first 11.

The form of Aaron Ramsey, Mikel Arteta and Mathieu Flamini means that Wilshere will really need to up his game to win back a place. But as we've seen with Thomas Vermaelen, sometimes players need to wait patiently for a chance. But when they are given a chance he needs to be ready to play.

Hopefully Wilshere's "heavy knock" is nothing too serious, so he can be involved in Saturday's match.

Elsewhere, German wonderkid Julian Draxler has ruled out a move to Arsenal or anywhere else in the January transfer window.